The Betrayal
by Vindicated Skies
Summary: They were his four most loyal lieutenants; their fealty was to him, and him alone. Whatever path he chose, they would follow without question...until that path ended in a chasm that even Seekers could not cross...with him stuck on the other side.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello again my loyal readers...or at least, if I have loyal readers out there...I hope I do...**

**Anyway, here is Chapter One of the Betrayal, which is the story explaining Starscream's past from the Brothers. Enjoy!**

_**Chapter One: The Four Lieutenants**_

Starscream marched through the corridors, seething. Every Decepticon in his way made certain to flee from his path and were silently glad they were not the cause of the Aerial Commander's rage. They felt a brief moment of pity for whoever was on the focus end of such fury before pushing the thought carelessly from mind and moving on with their own business.

The incensed Second-in-Command made his way to the barracks, muttering various, creative curses and threats all the way. If anyone had dared to pass within an arms length of him, they might've heard something about "a lazy, no good bucket of bolts that deserves to rust in the Pit."

When Starscream found the appropriate quarters, he didn't bother to punch in his command code to open it, he simply kicked in the door.

The resultant crash and unmechly screech ended with the sight of a crumpled door slumping dejectedly at the base of a dented wall. The only mech present in the room, from whom came the feminine shriek, peeked over the edge of the top berth, only to immediately withdraw at the demonic sight he witnessed standing in his doorway.

"Ramjet, you lazy rust-bucket! You were supposed to be in the hangar bay fifteen kliks ago!" Starscream exclaimed as he reached over and pulled the cowering Seeker out of his berth.

"I was?" Ramjet squeaked fearfully, "since when?"

Starscream barely managed to suppress the urge to find a new home for his fist in Ramjet's faceplate as he growled through gritted teeth; "Since the mission briefing you were sent forty kliks ago!"

The grey and yellow Seeker took a moment to search his com system for such a report and, once he found it, chuckled, smiling sheepishly; "Oops?"

Starscream dragged Ramjet out into the hallway, and began marching back the way he had come, ranting all the while.

"Do you have any idea what you've put at stake here? If we don't get to Sytec, the Autobots will claim the port. Primus! Why did Megatron handpick _you_ for this mission out of all my Seekers? At least your brother, Thrust, coward that he is, would've been _on time!_ Sometimes I don't even know why I appointed you as one of my top lieutenants in the first place."

"Um..." Ramjet began thoughtfully as he managed to put his own feet under him, shaking off Starscream's hand as he was finally relieved of the indignity of being _dragged_. "Because I saved your life at Tyger Pax?"

Starscream shot him a glare clearly indicating he didn't appreciate the reminder, but at the same time, his lack of verbal response conceded that it _was_ part of the reason; and that he was thankful for the meaning behind the reminder itself.

Ramjet wouldn't hesitate to save his life a second time.

The two arrived in the hangar bay rather quickly, where three other Seekers were waiting impatiently.

A blue and white Seeker, looking identical to Starscream in almost every way except for the different colour schemes, smirked at their approach.

"What's a matter Ramjet? Your chronometer fell asleep too?"

Ramjet scowled at him. "Ha, ha, ha, I forgot how hilarious you were just overnight, Thundercracker." He retorted sarcastically.

"That's because your processor's asleep half the time too."

"Oh, shut up, you aft."

Thundercracker, still smirking, glanced over at Starscream, "Hey, are you going to stand by and let this guy call your own brother an aft?"

"If you're behaving like one, yes." Starscream informed him.

Another Seeker, once more identical to Starscream, but with a purple and white colour scheme, looked up from where he knelt making one last routine check on their supplies, which were minimum given the suddenness of their mission.

"Can I second that motion?"

Starscream and Thundercracker simultaneously shot him a glare before replying in unison: "No."

The mech, Skywarp, looked crestfallen, "What? How come Ramjet's allowed to call my brother an aft when he is one and I'm not?"

"Because you'd never shut up about it," Starscream snapped, his frustration and impatience making him more irritable than usual, "now just prep the damn shuttle for launch."

Shrugging, and with a small twitch at his mouthplates that, for a moment, suspiciously resembled a smile, Skywarp, with a loud crack, disappeared from sight.

A femme Seeker emerged from the aft of the shuttle a mere nano-klik later, and stared at Starscream with a mix of incredulity and...something else the Aerial Commander couldn't quite discern. Her colour scheme was black and purple, with some hints of grey.

"You're not seriously going to let that bolt-brained brother of yours fly this thing are you?" Slipstream demanded. "He almost got us all killed last time!"

"No, he didn't," Thundercracker objected, "he was just messing around; Skywarp's the best pilot to graduate from the Decepticon Academy."

Slipstream let out a sigh, "If you say so..."

"Yes, yes, I say so, so if we're quite finished now, shall we _leave_?" Starscream demanded rhetorically as he stormed up the ramp and into the shuttle. Slipstream lightly brushed his arm with her hand as he passed, causing him to whip around to look at her curiously.

"Don't be so uptight." She told him, smiling, before she walked past with a wink and vanished into the shuttle cockpit where she was likely to keep an optic on Skywarp's piloting just so he didn't do something stupid again.

"Seriously," Thundercracker began as he came up alongside his brother, staring straight ahead as though he could see through the wall plating and lay eyes on the much-desired femme, "if you're not going to bond with her, I will."

Starscream proceeded to smack him upside the head, eliciting a sharp protest of "ow!"

"You're not her type."

Thundercracker smirked knowingly at him, "Primus, she's been just _begging_ you to kiss her and you won't even hold optic-contact with her. What's the matter, afraid of femmes?"

The shuttle lurched beneath their feet, the ramp rising and closing behind them as the small, Cybertronian vessel lifted off the ground and exited the hangar bay.

Thundercracker sighed as he sat down on one of the firmly anchored benches. "Starscream, honestly, a femme like that only comes along once in a lifetime. You two have been through everything together. Pit, you're the first one she went to after her trine was killed."

"Aft that he is, your brother's right." Ramjet added. Thundercracker glowered at his fellow lieutenant, who, with a slight squeal, retreated further into the shuttle, wondering how every Seeker in that particular trine could impersonate Unicron so well.

"As I was saying, Starscream, if I ever believed in pre-destined Sparkmates, it would be the two of you."

Starscream took comfort in Thundercracker's assurance, and silently admitted he had felt for Sliptstream as more than friends for quite some time, but had been too afraid to act on the emotions, even though there had to be a dozen other mechs lined up for a shot at her, his own brothers included.

Starscream's gaze drifted back over to the cockpit, and he could clearly see Slipstream in his mind, staring at Skywarp with a watchful, critical optic as he piloted the shuttle.

"I'll ask her when I'm ready."

* * *

**Sorry it was so short, but I just wanted to establish the characters before I got into the actual story. Now, just warning you, the next chapter is going to skip the flight and get right into the battle at Sytec. R&R pretty please with ice cream, sugar and cheesecake on top...wait...cheesecake doesn't make sense...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, sorry this one ended up being just as short as the last one, but I never intended for this story to be drawn out. It's really just a snippet, and, as I said, this chapter just jumps straight into the action. Anyways, enjoy!**

**Oh, and thank you to Starfire201 for being the first to review!**

_**Chapter Two: The Battle for Sytec**_

The shuttle had barely landed in the Sytec Space Port before they came under fire. That had been over a megacycle ago, and the shuttle itself had since been destroyed by an Autobot demolition team. Thankfully, Skywarp had managed to warp the supplies to a safe area in the port the Autobots had yet to advance upon.

"Skywarp, warp the automatic turrets to these locations!" Starscream cried out over his comlink as he barrel-rolled from the path of an Autobot missile before perfectly executing a series of aerial manoeuvres that allowed him to not only avoid the blasts, but also return fire. All of this, he did while simultaneously uploading several sets of coordinates to his brother of locations in which the turrets would prove most effective.

"**You got it!"**

Starscream heard the loud crack that signified the use of Skywarp's transwarp module echo over the comlink.

With a burst of speed, Starscream shot down to ground level, sword extended, and rounded the corner of an old run-down building that had been abandoned since long before the schism, just like everything else in this region.

He bore down upon the startled Autobot that had taken cover there.

"For Megatron!"

Without a second thought, he plunged his sword right through the mech's Spark Chamber. With a cry of pain abruptly cut short, and punctuated by the sparking of his chassis, the Autobot fell to the ground, but Starscream was already on the move before the deceased soldier ever hit it.

He took to the skies again, drawing Autobot fire. An unexpected gunshot nicked his side, causing him to wince, and he whipped around to face the direction from which the shot had come.

Atop the roof of an old storage depot, two Autobots stood. One brought a standard blaster rifle to bear and fired while his companion reloaded the sniper rifle responsible for Starscream's minor injury.

The Aerial Commander twisted from the path of the blast and a twin set of cannons extended over his shoulders; the whine of their charging systems was barely audible even to his own audio receivers, but the two Autobots didn't need to hear it in order to know it was charging.

The purple glow within the cannon barrels was enough.

They dove from the path of the twin blasts with startled cries, but it didn't save them as the depot collapsed beneath the unrelenting force, dragging the two Autobots down with it and burying them in its rubble.

"Twenty-five," Starscream muttered, then winced as the full-extent of his accumulated injuries finally registered in his processor. He briefly reviewed the damage reports, skimming for any injuries that might prove serious. Finding none, he dismissed the reports and pushed the discomfort of his injuries from mind.

With his sensors constantly sweeping the area for unidentified energy signatures, Starscream transformed into his jet alt-mode and shot off towards the next regiment of enemy soldiers.

"Slipstream, what's the report on the Autobot movements in your area?"

It was a moment before his Second Lieutenant replied.

"**They're still trying to punch through to the centre of the port, and they're **_**succeeding**_**. Damn it, Ramjet, where the Pit is that explo—"**

A ball of fire erupted on the horizon, lighting Cybertron's eternal night in a blaze of red glory.

"**Nevermind."**

Ramjet's voice crackled over the com, **"You should've seen the looks on their faces! Haha!**

If Starscream's alt-mode had a head, he would've shaken it in exasperation. "Ramjet, focus; next target." He reminded his Third Lieutenant.

"**Oh, right."**

"**Starscream,"** Thundercracker called out, sounding strained, **"I've got several Autobot teams bearing down on the central fueling depot and I can't take down all of them on my own!"**

Making use of the Spark bond all trines possessed, Starscream quickly located his First Lieutenant and shot off in his direction.

_[I'm on my way,] _he reassured his brother, then, refocusing on Skywarp's Spark, he focused as much frustration and impatience into his next communication as he could. _[SKYWARP! WHERE IN PRIMUS' NAME ARE THOSE DAMN TURRETS?]_

_[It's not my fault!]_ Skywarp protested, _[None of them are functioning properly! One of them actually tried to shoot me and I had to blast it before it turned me into scrap metal!]_

His brother's claim caused Starscream to momentarily hesitate. All seven turrets were malfunctioning? That was unheard of! He was personally going to slag whoever was responsible for maintenance once they returned to HQ.

_[Fine.]_ Starscream growled irritably, _[Meet me at Thundercracker's location.]_

He cut off the communication, not wanting to hear either a confirmation or protest.

As he flew, a question that had been nagging at him since he was first told of this mission returned to the forefront of his mind once more.

"_Why are we doing this?"_

_Megatron glanced over at his SIC with narrowed optics, "Because I did not replenish Sytec's energon stores just to have the Autobots claim it." He stated simply._

_Starscream scrolled through the information presented by the datapad he held in his hand, frowning as he found more and more of nothing._

"_I don't understand, Lord Megatron. Sytec Space Port is hardly of any tactical advantage and the entire region is deprived of any valuable resources; why are we even wasting our time with it in the first place?"_

"_Let's just say I have a particular...use...for the port and leave it at that."_

_Starscream felt a twinge of annoyance at being left in the dark. He was, after all, the second-in-command, he felt that at least meant he should have a say in some of the Decepticon General's decisions. He pushed the thought from his mind, reminding himself that Megatron was his leigelord and surely had his own reasons for this seemingly pointless endeavour._

_This eventually led to contemplations about why the Autobots were suddenly so interested in Sytec. It couldn't possibly be about the energon, there was hardly enough there for Optimus Prime to care about launching an attempt to capture it._

"_Do you honestly expect just the five of us to hold the port, my lord?" Starscream asked, not liking the odds._

"_Not indefinitely, no," Megatron replied, "just long enough for the proper reinforcements to arrive and set up a more permanent residence there. I've handpicked your best Seekers for this task, Starscream, I know you won't fail me."_

The sound of gunfire ripped Starscream from his reverie, confronting him with the sight of battle far below, where a wounded Thundercracker was taking cover behind a half-standing wall while a dozen Autobots fired on his position.

Starscream transformed midflight, pulling a series of grenades from his wrist compartment and launching them at the unsuspecting Autobots below. Their startled cries as the small orbs detonated mere mechanometers from most and directly in the faces of some, echoed up to him where he was already charging his twin cannons once more. He fired even before the smoke cleared, throwing more debris into the air.

Starscream glanced down at Thundercracker just as Skywarp decided to make his appearance, warping in at his brother's side, taking hold of him, and warping out again.

Starscream only stuck around long enough to ensure the Autobots were dead or incapacitated before transforming once more and taking off towards the central fueling depot.

"Slipstream, Ramjet, what's your status?"

It was a moment before either of them decided to reply and, when they did, the sound of gunfire and minor explosions could be heard distinctly in the background.

"**Slipstream here. The Autobots are cutting through! Several regiments have already bypassed us and we're hardpressed to keep **_**any**_** of them pinned down." **Slipstream yelled over the com, fighting to be heard above the chaotic din of battle that surrounded her.

"**And I'm out of explosives!"** Ramjet helpfully put in, **"The last five were faulty! They didn't even go off!"**

Starscream growled angrily to himself. Seven malfunctioning turrets and five faulty explosives...how could their luck possibly be that bad?

"**Starscream,"** Slipstream's voice broke him from his dark thoughts, **"When are those reinforcements supposed to be coming?"**

He was about to reply "soon," but found he couldn't. He thought back to the mission briefing Megatron gave him, searching for the approximate time that he said they could expect reinforcements...only to realize the Decepticon General had never mentioned one; it had already been well over a megacycle as it was.

"**Damn it! We can't hold this position any longer, we're falling back!" **Slipstream's cry was punctuated by a resounding explosion that caused even Starscream to lower the sensitivity on his audios to protect the delicate circuitry.

Calling up a map of the region on which he had been keeping track of the Autobot advancements, Starscream cursed to himself as he realized seventy-five percent of the Port had already been lost, and that the enemy was fast closing in on the recently refuelled central depot.

Quickly, he barked out an order to each of his lieutenants.

"Everyone fall back to the central depot! The energon is what's important!"

Yet, even as he said it, a warning went off in his mind that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

* * *

**Eep! Only two more chapters! (Or maybe one; I may combine the next two if they end up being really short. No sense in dragging it out.) R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So sorry I haven't updated in forever, I kind of hit a wall...but here is the long awaited Chapter Three, oh, and, there will be a fourth Chapter after this. Please pardon the shortness!**

_**Chapter Three: The Truth**_

Thundercracker winced painfully as Skywarp's fingers prodded at the gaping hole in his side.

"You could be a little gentler!" he snapped irritably, desiring nothing more than to shut off his sensor nodes to escape the pain and its accompanying discomfort. In their current dire and unpredictable situation, however, he knew he couldn't risk it for fear he would not be able to turn them back on.

"I could just not fix you at all, if you'd like." Skywarp suggested sarcastically, giving his brother a pointed glare.

Thundercracker sighed heavily, grudgingly allowing his brother to contiue his work while wishing they had never been sent on this Primus-forsaken mission to this Primus-forsaken place. What he would give to simply be recharging in his berth...Pit, even monitor duty was looking pretty good.

Pain suddenly flashed through his side and, hissing, he jerked away from Skywarp's grasp. "Watch where you're poking or so help me I will tear your wings off!"

Skywarp withdrew, hands up in a placating gesture as he stared at his irate brother with widened optics. "All right! Sheesh, it's not my fault those Autobots have pretty good aim! They nicked your primary energon coil and your leaking coolant from several lines," Skywarp proceeded to yank something painfully from his brother's insides, eliciting a sharp yelp from the injured Seeker.

He held up the sizzling, black, vaguely rectangular shape he had pulled from the wound.

"And, to top it off, a completely shot circuit board; thankfully, not one needed for your primary systems to function, though it _is_ the reason you're hurting like the Pit right now."

Offlining his optics, Thundercracker leaned his head back against the wall and let out a profuse sigh, "Great, just great."

They both looked up at the sound of metallic footsteps to find Starscream enter the doorway, his optics scanning the room in search of those not present.

"Slipstream and Ramjet haven't made it back yet?" he inquired, turning his gaze to the only other Seekers in the room.

Skywarp shook his head, "No, not yet."

Starscream gave the barest signs of a perturbed frown. "I'm going back out to find them." He announced before turning on his heel and marching towards the door he had just entered from.

"Do you have a malfunctioning motherboard in that processor of yours?" Thundercracker demanded irately, causing Starscream to pause mid-stride and turn to face him, "If you go back out there, you'll be shot down before you can even make it halfway to their position!"

"I have to try!"

Before the two brothers could possibly begin to argue, the team com system crackled to life, with Slipstream's fearful voice reaching out to them.

"**This is Slipstream, the entire battalion of Autobots is on my tail and fast closing in on the central depot! I'm coming in hot!"**

The brothers exchanged concerned looks before Skywarp reluctantly voiced the thought on each of their minds. They felt the panic and fear stab at their own Sparks.

"We're all gonna die, aren't we?"

* * *

Slipstream transformed midflight and hit the ground running. Her optics were entirely focused on the entrance to the central fuelling depot, though her thoughts kept falling back to a mere half-a-klik earlier, when she had successfully hacked into the Autobot com system.

_There has to be an explanation, _she thought desperately, _There _has_ to be an explanation!_

But there wasn't. No sudden realization struck her, no dawning comprehension to assure her that everything was going to be all right, that this was all just a terrible, terrible mistake...

She burst through the doors into the main room of the central Depot, running right into Starscream. He gripped her arms to steady her, looking down at her face and frowning at the panic he saw there.

"What is it, Slipstream? Where's Ramjet?"

"He—He was shot down; dead before he hit the ground."

Starscream was forced to smother the pain that stabbed at his Spark. "I see..."

"No!" Slipstream pushed herself away from Starscream, such pain and hopelessness evident in her optics that it was almost too much for the Decepticon Aerial Commander to bear. "No, you don't see! None of us saw it! We've been betrayed!"

Starscream withdrew the hand he had been reaching out to her, startled by the unfounded accusation. "Slipstream, what are you talking about?"

Slipstream's frame began to tremble with her rage, her disbelief. "I just hacked into the Autobot comlink. The reason they're invading Sytec is that they received intelligence that we were building a super weapon here."

Starscream scoffed, "That's ridiculous! Their information must be faulty..." the Seeker trailed off, optics widening in horrible realization. Slipstream reached out to him, hand brushing against his arm as Starscream's two brothers watched from their position, shoulders drooped as they, too, realized the truth.

"It would only be faulty to that kind of degree if a Decepticon Agent planted it." Thundercracker stole the words from Slipstream's open mouth, his expression grim.

"No, no...there must been an explanation, Megatron must've planted that information to draw them into a trap." Starscream began mumbling, unable to believe it as every bad feeling he had ever had regarding this mission came crashing down; forcing their full weight upon his Spark.

"_What_ trap, Starscream?" Slipstream demanded furiously, hoping he would prove her wrong...hoping he would give her an answer she knew did not exist.

Starscream hesitated, realizing Megatron had never mentioned anything about luring the Autbots into a trap.

"The reinforcements; they must be planning to flank them." Starscream replied, hearing the desperate reach for an answer in his own voice.

Slipstream opened her mouth to reply, but a sudden, soft beeping drew the attention of everyone in the room to the Energon storage tanks.

Frowning in concern, and suspicion nagging at her, Slipstream walked past Starscream and the others before bending over to inspect the tanks. Starscream followed behind her, and his face contorted in disbelief and emotional pain as she removed one of the panels to the control console, revealing an active detonator within.

Slipstream looked up at him, and, in that crucial, final moment when their optics met, he saw the regret in her eyes of things she hadn't done in her life, the reluctant resignation to a fate she could not avoid, and such a deep sadness that made him want to scream at any listening creator for being such a cruel being who would allow this to happen.

"There were never any reinforcements, Starscream."

And then the world ended in a blinding flash of white.

* * *

**And there's Chapter Three...probably the worst one yet (Sorry) the next one will be better since I'm getting back into the swing of it, I promise!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's Chapter 4...I think I've lost my touch again...oh, and there's going to be an epilogue.**

* * *

_**Chapter Four: The Path to Vengeance**_

Pain.

It was a constant, incessant pulse that roughly tugged him from the blissful ignorance the darkness had offered. He fought against it, willing the numbness of oblivion to overtake him and shelter him from the terrible knowledge that he had failed.

With one last, violent tug, the pain yanked him back into the harsh reality of his existence with an agonized scream that resounded outwards; lasting until his voice cracked beneath the strain imposed on his damaged vocalizer.

Trembling, the circulated air of his systems coming out of his broken vents in ragged gasps, Starscream slowly looked down at his own, shattered body, vaguely aware that only one optic was functioning as he did so.

He barely even recognized it.

His outer armour was almost completely missing, exposing his sparking, vital circuitry and components to the world. Those pieces that had not been completely incinerated were impossible to identify in their charred, blackened states except for the position they occupied on his body.

_I should be dead._

Starscream's very Spark attested to that fact as it clenched painfully in his chest, silently screaming out over its severed bonds for the Sparks of his brothers...Sparks that were no longer there.

_Primus! Primus, no! This can't be happening! _The thought repeated in his head as the pain in his Spark continued to escalate, mercilessly tearing him from his state of denial.

_They're gone...Primus, how did Slipstream ever bear it? _The thought of his femme lieutenant immediately increased the weight on his Spark as he saw her hopeless optics staring back up at him once more.

"_There were never any reinforcements, Starscream."_

The pressure built, smothering him in grief and pain as he realized exactly how much he had lost.

_Ramjet..._

Memories passed before his mind; a blast coming towards him, a fellow Seeker tackling him from its path...it was a debt he had never repaid, and now never would.

_Thundercracker, Skywarp..._

Sparks that had pulsed in time with his own from the moment he was built; existences of which he had been more certain of than that of the world around him.

He couldn't hold it in anymore.

"SLIPSTREAM!"

He screamed her name as though it would bring her running back to him...to stand before him in all her beautiful glory once more; to offer him that one last chance to tell her he loved her.

It didn't.

Starscream was fully aware of the footsteps approaching as they echoed out of the silence of this newly made tomb; but he couldn't bring himself to care. He almost welcomed the fate that would be brought with their swift coming. At least it meant he wouldn't have to bear this pain much longer...

The footsteps stopped mere mechanometers behind him.

"You should be dead."

That single blunt, unfeeling statement was all Starscream needed to identify the mech towering behind him.

"No thanks to you," he spat bitterly, "_Lord_ Megatron."

He wished the words would've come out more venomous; more spiteful...but he simply didn't have the strength.

"Hmm, so you figured it out. A bit late, don't you think?"

The first inkling of rage kindled in his Spark, but not yet enough to break through the haze left behind by the sudden departion of his will to live.

"Why?" he demanded hoarsely, "Just tell me why you did it."

There was a moment of silence, but he heard the smirk in Megatron's voice when next he spoke.

"Why, Starscream? Because of loyalty."

"Loyalty?" The battered Seeker repeated, disbelieving, the skeletal remains of his left hand clenching into a fist. "I have been nothing _but_ loyal to you!"

"Ah, but Starscream," slowly, each step taken with deliberate ease, Megatron came to stand before him. "Would you have stayed that way?"

Without allowing him time to answer, Megatron crouched down to eye-level, taking in the full sight of his broken Lieutenant with a sadistic smirk before answering his own question. "No, you wouldn't have; because, eventually, all that loyalty of your fellow Seekers would've gone straight to your head and led you astray. They were willing to follow you anywhere, and should you have chosen to lead them against me, then they would've obeyed without question.

"Now, however, with you out of the way, the Seekers will be more loyal to _me_, like they should've been all along."

"If you wanted to get rid of me, then why didn't you just _do it_ you coward?" Starscream shrieked in rage, hating his liegelord more and more with every passing nano-klik. "Why the fragging Pit couldn't you have left my Lieutenants out of it?"

"Because they never would've accepted your death, especially your brothers. They would've dug their fingers into every Decepticon secret to uncover what had happened, and once they did, they would've had everything they needed to consolidate their hold on the Seekers and turn them against me. Now, with them out of the way, there are no others who will suspect foul play in your death." Megatron explained, with that ever-infuriating, smug little smirk still carved into the features of his face.

"You fragging, pit-spawned, slag-headed glitch..." Starscream cursed at him, his voice straining beneath the weight of his grief and helpless rage.

The sound of Seeker jets overhead briefly diverted the attention of both Decepticons as they looked up to watch the descent of a green and grey mech, transforming with a maniacal cackle to land beside them.

"Oh, everything worked _magnificently_, didn't it Lord Megatron?"

Starscream's Spark clenched and sunk deep within his chassis as both the identity, and the meaning of the mech's words, registered in his processor.

Megatron rolled his optics, "Yes, Thrust, quite."

It was then Thrust took note of Starscream for the first time, and was held rooted in place as soon as he made contact with the half-dead Seeker's single, working optic.

It was a mere crimson glow in the darkness, blazing with a fury that would put Unicron to shame.

"You fragging son of a glitch..." Starscream hissed venomously as he pulled himself to his feet and staggered backwards uncertainly when his right leg refused to hold his weight.

Megatron reached for his sword, deciding he'd amused himself with Starscream's suffering long enough...it was time to end the Seeker's miserable existence.

Before the General's weapon was even fully drawn, Starscream let out a feral cry as the haze of his hopelessness, his pain, and his denial, was shattered beneath a simple fact.

"YOU KILLED YOUR OWN BROTHER!"

Starscream wanted nothing more than to kill them both at that moment. He wanted to tear them mercilessly limb from limb, and he almost leapt for Thrust's throat; but a flash of red signified the presence of Megatron's cruel sword as the General sauntered towards him, intent on finishing the job the Energon detonation had failed to accomplish.

Eyeing Megatron, Starscream began backing up, every twitch of his limbs sending pain coursing through his systems. He knew then that, to stay and fight, was to stay and die pointlessly.

"I swear, Megatron," he snarled, his single optic narrowed in contempt and helpless rage, "if it is the last thing I ever do, I will send both your Sparks to the farthest depths of the Pit."

Megatron scoffed, "How, Starscream," he mocked, savouring this last chance to infuriate his soon-to-be-deceased SIC, "when in a matter of moments, you will be nothing more than a ghost lingering only in the records of Decepticon history?" He brandished his sword for emphasis.

Starscream's gaze only narrowed further, and he said nothing as he waited for the opening he needed, with Megatron a mere armslength from him.

The Decepticon General raised his sword, the metal flashing eagerly, hungering for his Spark.

It would not take it.

Through sheer will alone, Starscream forced his battered body into action, leaping forward and ducking under the devastating arc of the warlord's sword, bypassing him completely to reach the mech beyond. Without a moment's hesitation, he flipped the startled Thrust over his shoulder, tossing him into Megatron's back and sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

Before either of them could scramble to their feet, he'd already forced his thrusters online, carelessly brushing aside their harsh, unhealthy screams of protest.

He shot away from the battlefield, straining to keep his processor from crashing, to keep what few systems remained minimally operable from shorting completely.

Far below and behind him, Megatron pulled himself to his feet, with Thrust screaming unintelligibly in a fit of rage.

"I'll tear him apart!" the irate Seeker concluded, firing up his own intact thrusters and preparing to chase him down. Megatron threw an arm out in front of him.

"Don't bother," he muttered, staring out into distance, Starscream's form already gone from sight, "he won't survive those wounds."

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Red Alert shuffled the datapads around on his desk, having announced his most recent patient as finally fit for duty just kliks ago. He sighed, wondering if there would ever be a day that the most serious of his medical duties would be treating viruses and upgrading younglings into their adult frames, rather than the constant severed limbs, and fuel lines that came with war.

He checked his chronometer, wondering whether or not he should at least attempt to get a few kliks of recharge before the next Cybertron-shattering crisis struck, leaving him with a full medbay yet again and Decepticons on the doorstep.

Well, if there was one positive thing he could say, it was that being a field medic stationed on the borders between Decepticon and Autobot territory was never dull; constantly life-threatening, often depressing, and most certainly exhausting, yes, but never dull...

So much for that being a positive point.

"Red Alert! Red Alert!"

The medic bolted upright immediately in his chair, visored optics turning expectantly to the door to his office just as a young ensign stumbled through, blue optics wide in alarm.

"There's a badly injured Seeker outside! He just came over the border...Primus, he looks like the walking dead; we can't even tell whether or not he's one of ours!"

Red Alert was already running down the corridor before the ensign finished, with said ensign trailing behind him.

He bolted out the doors to find half the local regiment gathered in a circle around a collapsed form, which, once he caught a glimpse of it, he was certain could only be the corpse of a badly mutilated Cybertronian. However, that very thought was disproved as the form moved slightly, startling several Autobots into taking a few steps back.

Indeed, it was like looking at the living dead.

Red Alert wasted no time jumping into action, ordering several of the present soldiers to help carry the unknown Transformer into the medical wing and comming ahead to order an immediate medical transport to Iacon.

Within fifteen kliks, the transport was off the ground, carrying the broken Seeker aboard as a weak, yet miraculously living Spark pulsed painfully in his chest, a single thought resolutely repeating through its owner's clouded processor.

_I will survive._

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**Please Review!**


	5. Epilogue

**All right, here's the epilogue, sorry this story probably didn't live up to some expectations. However, for those of you who have just finished reading this, you may want to move on to the Brothers, which was written before this, but continues its story.**

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_**Epilogue**_

Megatron scowled, deeply, and Thrust visibly leaned back in order to distance himself from the short-tempered warlord. On the other side of the room, Soundwave watched, displaying no outward signs of the sadistic amusement he was currently entertaining as he watched the exchange.

"I-I only meant, Lord Megatron, th-that, _considering_ my significant contribution to your little..._problem_, several orns ago, that its only fair to assume I'd inherit _both_ of Starscream's positions—" Thrust choked as Megatron's hands snaked around his throat, threatening to crush the vocalizer within it as he brought the Seeker up mere inches from his own face.

"It is not your place to 'assume' anything, Thrust," he growled threateningly, "bring this matter up again and I will not only strip you of your rank as Aerial Commander, but I will see to it that you spend the rest of your miserable days in the brig for insubordination. Is. That. Clear?"

Unable to offer a verbal response, Thrust only nodded quickly, scurrying out of reach the moment Megatron released him.

"Now get back to your post."

Still fervently nodding his head, Thrust all but ran from the room, leaving Megatron alone with his newly appointed second-in-command.

After a brief moment in which he successfully managed to suppress his anger, he addressed Soundwave.

"I want an eye kept on Thrust at all times, I have no doubt the newfound power of his position is going straight to his processor."

"Yes, my liege. However, I doubt he will prove much of a threat for some time. His fellow Seekers despise him, and it is only their fear of your retribution that keeps them following him in your name," Soundwave informed the General succinctly, in his characteristic monotone.

"Yes..." Megatron hummed thoughtfully, "the other Seekers, how have they received the news of Starscream's death?"

"They're outraged, and eager to strike back at the Autobots," Soundwave replied. Megatron nodded, having expected no less. "Dirge, Thrust's second brother, has proven suspicious of the circumstances however; given their bond, it is not surprising. He could become a liability."

Megatron smirked cruelly, "I doubt Thrust will care if he loses another sibling; take care of him if he becomes dissenting."

No sooner had Soundwave finished nodding his acknowledgment than did he cock his head ever-so-slightly to the side, receiving a transmission from the communications room. His ever-stoic expression flickered momentarily with astonishment.

"My Lord, there is something you need to see."

Megatron frowned, then gestured towards the open air between them. Raising a hand to his helm, Soundwave activated his projection system, revealing the still-frame of a skirmish between Autobot and Decepticons.

The Decepticon General recognized the Autobot-Decepticon borderline immediately, knowing this image was from the brief battle that had taken place earlier that very orbital cycle, resulting in the deaths of half the Decepticons involved. His frown remained for a moment, as he was uncertain of what it was he was supposed to be seeing; but then blue optics met crimson and the shock and disbelief registered in his expression, quickly replaced by rage as he took in the full sight of the gleaming red-and-white Seeker whom was in the act of sauntering towards the owner of whomever's optics had taken the image.

He had no doubt said owner was dead now, lying face down with a gaping hole in his chest where once a Spark had pulsed, his last thoughts likely being that a spawn of Unicron himself had finally come upon this world and was now hiding its dark nature behind the benevolent red emblem of their enemy.

Megatron would never admit it, not to himself and not even to Primus, but at that moment, he wondered what demon he had unleashed.

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**Eh, I'm not sure this epilogue was even worth posting, but oh well. I am almost finished the first chapter of the Comrades. If everything goes according to plan it shoulde be posted, if not tomorrow, then sometime next week at the latest.**

**PS: I'm also looking for a beta reader to check my work for grammar errors and to help reword sentences that come out convoluted, if this is up your alley, then PM me, or something. Thanks.**


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